Twins’ Trade Of Duran Included Iconic Stadium Introduction

I have written about this before so I won't dwell on it too much here, but my seven-year-old is a MASSIVE Jhoan Duran fan. His fandom began when he saw Duran throw a pitch 104 miles per hour, and continued through 2024's TwinsFest when he got to meet his baseball hero and exchange signed baseball cards.

When I told my son last week he was bummed, but still wanted to keep up with Duran's career as he transitioned to a new team in a new league. With that being said, we abandoned watching the Twins (for the first time this season) to watch the Phillies take on Detroit over the weekend.

Friday's game was great and we got to see former Twins outfielders Max Kepler and (my son's second-favorite player) Harrison Bader play key roles in a come-from-behind win for the home Phillies.

When the top of the ninth inning rolled around, we were curious to see exactly what Duran's entrance would look like. After all, he was known for having one of the most exciting field entrances in the league.

As it turned out, it was almost exactly the same in Philadelphia as it used to be at Target Field.

It was bittersweet to say the least, with my seven-year-old particularly hit in the feels when he realized he would never get to be a part of that scene again.

One cool note that emerged from the Twins' trade with Philadelphia was the fact that the Twins sent over the computer files for Duran's entrance to help the Phillies organization out.

The Athletic has the full breakdown of the 'trade within the trade,' but the part that stood out to me was this quote from Twins Vice President of Communications Dustin Morse.

“It’s the right thing to do,” Morse said. “We did the right thing here.”

The story also notes that two Twins employees had spent over 500 (!) hours putting together the original Duran introduction.